In September 2003, 120 people took part in Scotland's first national conference on the needs of LGBT people in rural areas across Scotland.

LGBT people and representatives from LGBT organisations, from government, statutiry bodies, voluntary organisations and from the LGBT community had an opportunity to meet, discuss, listen to one another and most importantly to begin considering how best to meet the diverse needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in rural areas throughout Scotland.

The conference offered participant the opportunity to:

identify the action and services that are required in their area to challenge LGBT social exclusion, isolation and invisibility

make a connection with people from across Scotland and build strong netwroks

develop new skills to help challenge discrimination, prejudice and social exclusion in their local community

Two days of uplifting presentations, lively and informative workshops, debate, netwroking and socialising in a warm and welcoming environment produced many recommendations, ideas and strategies for progressing the agenda. These are summarised within the main body of the report and given as an action plan at the end of the report.

Some key words and phrases emerged again and again throughout the day: